Yarn-ballooning control sleeve for winding machines



Dec. 5, 1961 s. FURST ET AL YARN-BALLOONING CONTROL SLEEVE FOR WINDING MACHINES Filed Nov. 6, 1959 3 Sheets$heet 1 Dec. 5, 1961 S. FURST ETAL YARN-BALLOONING CONTROL SLEEVE FOR WINDING MACHINES Filed Nov. 6, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 5, 1961 s. FURST ETAL 3,01

YARN-BALLOONING CONTROL SLEEVE FOR WINDING MACHINES Filed Nov. 6, 1959 3 SheetsSheet 3 United States Patent Oflice 3,011,736 Patented Dec. 5, 1961 3,011,736 YARN-BALLOONING CONTROL SLEEVE FOR WINDING MACHINES Stefan 'Fiirst, M. Gladbach, and Manfred Riihl, Rheydt, Germany, assignors to Walter Reiners, M. Gladbach,

Germany Filed Nov. 6, 1959, Ser. No. 851,397 Claims priority, application Germany Nov. 8, 1958 11 Claims. (Cl. 242128) Our invention relates to yarn winding machines in which the yarn, coming from a stationarily mounted supply coil or cop, rotates about the tip of the coil while being pulled oif and thence passes through a yarn tensioner onto the yarn package being wound. More particularly, the invention concerns machines of the just mentioned type in which the formation of a yarn balloon, caused by centrifugal force during rotation of the amount of yarn adjacent to the tip of the supply coil, is being controlled and frictionally restrained by means of a sleeve structure through which the yarn passes on its way from the supply coil to the yarn tensioner. Machines of this general type are described in copending application Serial No. 764,882, of Erwin Weber, filed October 2, 1958, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

It is an object of our invention to improve the balloonrestraining sleeve device of such winding machines so as to make one and the same machine and one and the same device suitable for operation with yarn supply coils of difiierent diameter and for yarn of diiferent kinds or thicknesses, without requiring an exchange of any machine components.

To this end, and in accordance with a feature of our invention, the sleeve structure for restraining the ballooning of the yarn coming from the supply coil is given an inner space of adjustable cross-sectional area, preferably of square or polygonal shape. It has been found that such a device is most effective if the edge length of the sleeve cross section is approximately equal to the arithmetic median value between the largest and smallest coil diameters that occur during unwinding operation.

For this purpose, the sleeve for controlling the unwinding run of the yarn may be made exchangeable for sleeves of respectively difierent diameters. However, according to a preferred feature of the invention, the sleeve structure is given such a design that the inner sleeve area is continuously adjustable without requiring any exchange. I

It is further of advantage to provide the sleeve device with an indicating scale fromwhich the adjusted edge length of the sleeve is apparent in order to facilitate adapting the sleeve device to any yarn thickness and cop size.

If desired, the axial length of the sleeve device can be made adjustable. However, the normally occurring requirements can also be satisfied by using a sleeve device of a fixed but relatively great length, because a long sleeve is applicable with cops of large diameter as well 7 as with those of small diameter.

According to a further feature of our invention the lateral walls of the sleeve structure are designed as pivotally mounted vanes, and all vanes which conjointly form the sleeve are so oriented that they point away from their respective pivot axes in the same sense of rotation about the sleeve axis. Thispermits changing the cross sectional edge length of the multi-surface sleeve structure simply by turning the individual vanes about their respective pivots, while preserving the regularity of the crosssectional inner area of the sleeve. larly to sleeve structures of rhombic cross section, although the invention is also applicable to sleeve structures of triangular pentagonal or hexagonal cross section.

The angular displacement of the vanes by the same This applies particurespective angular amounts can be simplified according to another feature of our invention, by interconnecting the individual vanes by a suitable transmission. Particularly favorable for this purpose is the provision of linking rods which can be given a simple design and require a minimum of maintenance. However, gear transmissions are likewise applicable.

To facilitate threading the yarn into the retaining sleeve, it is further preferable to give one of the pivotally mounted vanesan angularly bent end portion, preferably shaped like an outwardly pointing horn, so that the yarn when passing axially along the angular end or horn can automatically find the entrance into the sleeve structure. Such a horn structure is preferably located at the peripheral end of a vane, and the next adjacent vane can be given an extension beyond its pivot axis to form a second guide member for threading the yarn into the sleeve structure.

To facilitate checking the opening width of the sleeve structure, and in accordance with still another feature of our invention, a pointer, indicator mark and/ or scale, is provided on one of the vanes, thus exhibiting the position of the vanes and hence the opening width of the sleeve to the attending personnel.

The foregoing and other objects and features of our invention, said features being set forth with particularity in the claims annexed hereto, will be apparent from the following description in conjunction with the embodiments of devices according to our invention, illustrated by way of example on the accompanying drawings, in which: 7

FIGS. 1,2 and 3 are schematic views partially insection showing respective retaining sleeves of diiferent sizes together with three yarn-supply cops of difierent sizes for which the respective sleeves are suitable.

' FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are top views'of devices according to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are top views of an adjustable sleeve device adjusted to narrow size and wider size respectively.

FIG. 9 is a top view, and FIG. 10 a lateral view of another embodiment, FIG. 10 being a section taken along the line X-X of FIG. 9. v

FIGS. 11 and 12 are a top view and a lateraLsectional view of a further embodiment, the section of FIG. 12 being taken .along the line XII-XII of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 illustrates a top view of another embodiment.

FIGS. 14 and 15 illustrate respective top views of two groups of sleeve devices correlated to. a numberof respective winding stations and adjustable by means of a common control member. e

According to FIGS. 1,2 and 3, a yarn-supply cop 1 is stationarily or rotatably mounted on a mandril 1a secured to the mechanic frame structure fragmentarily shown at 1b, 1e and 1d. The yarn from cop 1 is'to be unwound and placed upon a take-up spoolfor the purpose of forming a yarn package of the size and shape'de'sired for further fabrication. The yarn F coming from cop'l passes through the interior of a sleeve 2.and thence through a yarn guide 3 to a yarn tensioner qtfrom which it passes over. a rotationally driven yarnguide 5 to a peripherally entrained take-up spool 6. Whilethe takeup'spool 6 is being driven bythe guide 5 to pull the yarn off theco'p 1, the yarn, passing over the cop tip, rotates about the axis of the cop and forms a balloon Whose formation is constrained and frictionally controlled the sleeve 2. The sleeve 2 has preferably a square'inner cross section. Its balloon-controlling action depends upon the size of the balloon and hence upon the thickness of the yarn; as well as 'upon'fthe' size of the sup As is indicated in FIG. 6, the edge length K of the inner sleeve space preferably, corresponds to, the arithmetic average value D={'d/ 2 of the maximum and minimum diameters D and d of the cop. The desirable adap tation of the edge length K can be obtained by providing respectively diiferent sleeves depending upon the size of the yarn-supply cop and the thickness of the yarn. That is, the sleeves can be so mounted that they are readily exchangeable. For example, and as shown in FIG. 1, the sleeve 2 may be exchangeably secured to the machine frame "structure by a stirrup 2a and a 'bolt 2b. 7 Preferably, however, in accordance with our invention, the sleeve structure is made adjustable so that its inner cross section can readily be adapted to the particular type of yarn and/or cop being used. For this purpose, the adjustable sleeve device shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 comprises four individual walls 11, 12, 13, 14formed by respective vanes which are rotatably mounted about respective pivot axes 15, 16, 17 and 18 Rigidly connected with the vanes are respective arms 21, 22, 23, 24. The four arms are interconnected by linking rods 19, so that the pivotal motion of one vane, for example arm 23 of vane 13, causes a corresponding pivoting by the same amount of the other arms 21 to 24 with their respective vanes. The arm 24 is movable over a scale 25 from which the amount of angular displacement and thus the size of the inner sleeve cross section is apparent.

The vane 14 has its outer end portion bent to the shape of a horn 14a so that anarrow vertical gap 14b remains between the horn portion of vane 14 and the next adjacent vane 11. This gap is available for self-threading of 'ithe yarn when the device is put into operation. The vane 11 may also be given a flared-out, horn-shaped extension beyond the location of its pivot axis .in the manner apparent from the sleeves 2 in FIGS. 4 to 6. The two outwardly widening horn portions then cooperate in facilitating the self-threading of the yarn.

In the embodiment of EIGSL7, 8, just described, the. outer edge of each vane abuts'agaiust the other vane so that a small gap may remain between each two adjacent vanes. Such a gap may occasionally catch the yarn and 'thus disturb the proper balloon formation. It is therefore preferably'to give the vanes a rake-type design so {that the rake tines of each vane pass throughthe gaps between the rake tines ofthe adjacent vane.

An embodiment of this type is shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. The walls of the sleeve structure are formedby rake structures 31, 32, 33 and 34. One wall 32a is hornshaped similar to 34in the embodiment of FIG. 7. The

tips ofthe rake titles 26 pass through the interstices of the adjacent'rake structure. This secures a good vertical 'edge without any gap. A sleeve structure formed by such rake tines, in lieu :of smooth surfaces, controls the run of the yarn "to the desiredextent, and is also more readily accessible and can be more easily cleaned than a Qsleeve formed by smooth and closed surface member's.

" A similar rake-type design is also embodied in the'device according 'to FIGS. 11 and 12 where the rake struc- 'tures are denotedby 31,32, 41 and 42. According to this embodiment of the invention, a symmetrical sleeve struc- 7 true, particularly with an even number of polygonal walls,

is so designed that each two adjacent sides offthe sleeve "are firmly joined with each other and are displac'eable along a diagonal straight line that extends from the common edge o'fthe'two walls to the sleeve axis. .By guiding the displaceablewall pair along this straight line, which also constitutes the bisecting line of the two firmly inter connected sleeve sides, the angular relation between the: "ndividiial pairs of sleeve walls is ,always preserved.

:When all wall pairs of a sleeve'struc'ture are simultav neorislymoved forward orrearward-by the same distance,

the sleeve is .always axially symmetrical and has inner polygonal areas of; the 'sarne'size in spite of the variation Such a .devicel ca'n be given a particularly simple design by forming the sleeveof four sleeve walls and giving the inner sleeve space a square I in the sleeve diameter.

cross section so that an four sides have the same size.

In such a sleeve structure, the individual walls are preferably designed as rake structures as described above, the rake tines of one wall passing through the spaces between the tines of the other rake structure The displacement and guidance of the sleeve components is preferably controlled by a stationarily mounted screw bolt Whose middle portion is journalled on a support so as to prevent axial displacement of the bolt, the bolt being provided on both sides of the journalling location with respective screw threads of the same pitch but mutually opposed sense.

The just-mentioned features are incorporated in the device illustrated in FIGS-1 1 and 12. Two adjacent sleeve walls, formed by respective rake structures 31 and 32, are rigidly connected with each other by bridge members 33. The bridge members 33 are fastened to a holder 34 which is provided with a threaded bore and is guided by means of a screw bolt 35 in threaded engagement with the bore. The other side of the holder 34 has a projection 36 sli'dably resting upon a supporting bracket 37. The forwardly located sleeve Walls formed by rake structures 41 and 42, are rigidly connected with each other by a U-shaped stirrup 43 which extends around the wall pair 31, 32. The rake structures 41, 42- are attached to another holder 44 also having a bore in threaded engagement with the bolt 35. The thread at this location has the same axial pitch as the thread on the opposite end of the bolt but has the opposed sense of pitch. The bolt 35 has a central shoulder portion 46 journalled and guided in a recess 38 of a supporting bracket 47 so that the bolt will not shift axially when being turned. The front end of bolt 35 carries a head 48 .witha pointer 49 which moves over a scale or" indicia 5%) from which the setting of the bolt 35 and hence the opening width of the sleeve structure can be read off. TheU-shaped connecting stirrup 43 has an extension 55 slidingly resting onthebracket 37. Whenthe bolt 35 is being turned, the'two members 34 and 44 are shifted toward or away from each other. The twin sides 31, 32 or 41, 42 of the sleeve device then move outwardly or inwardly, while the center axis of the sleeve structure remains in the original position with respect to the cop to be unwound. V 1

A further simplificationin design is obtained in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 13. pairs 51, 52 and 53, 54 likewise designed as rake structures, are mounted on the two limbs ss'vand 56 of a scissors mechanism. A parallel motion mechanism formed by links 57, 58 guides a pin 59 along a slot 60,

the pin 59 being displaced by means of a bolt 61 mounted in a guiding block 62. This type of design results in a sleeve structure which is slightly asymmetrical, but this does :not impainthe desired operation. V

The sleeve devices provided in a group of winding stations or in a rnulti-station machine may all be con .nected with each other so'that they can'be jointly adju'sted to the desired opening width by means of a single control member. Embodiments of this type are illustrated in FIGS.' 14 and 15, each of which show three sleeve devices appertainingto three respective winding stations. V a V v 7 The individual sleeve'devices according to FIG. 14 corres ond .to those described abovewith reference to FIGS. '7 and-8. One of the rotatable vanes is connected by an arrn63 with a linking "rod 17 so that longitudinal displacement of rod 7Gcausesthe; width of all sleeve devices to be adjusted simultaneously to the same extent.

a In this case, a single iiidicating device 2 5 is suificient for 7 showing the opening fwidth of the sleeves in an entire set of unwinding stations.

7 "The embodiment shown in .15 comprises individual sleeve. devices as described 'aboveiwith reference to FIG. 13. r A connecting'rcd was linked to the parallel guidance arms "58 of the respective, sleeve devices so that longitudinal displacement of rod 70 cause's simultaneous The sleeve wall opening or closing of the sleeve devices for an entire set of winding stations.

The invention thus affords by simple means the setting of a winding station or an entire group of such stations in accordance with any coil size or kind of yarn to be used, simply by displacing an adjusting member to a given scale indication. The invention is applicable in various types of yarn-package winding machines, twisting machines, doubling frames, weaving looms, knitting machines, as well as in creels, warpers, and the like textile fabricating machinery.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art, upon a study of this disclosure, that this invention permits of various modifications and alterations with respect to the individual machine components and method steps disclosed, and hence can be embodied in equipment other than as particularly illustrated and described herein, without departing from the essential features of the invention and within the spirit and scope of the claims annexed hereto.

We claim:

1. In a yarn Winding machine for winding yarn from a supply coil to a take-up spool, a stationary yarn guide member normally located along the yarn path from said supply coil to said take-up spool, pull means axially spaced from said supply coil for pulling the yarn over the coil tip whereby the pulled-E portion of yarn rotates about the coil axis and tends to form a balloon, balloon limiting means comprising a sleeve device located between said coil tip and said guide member for guiding and controlling the lateral movements of the yarn passing from said coil to said spool, said sleeve device comprising means forming mutually adjustable guide surfaces for laterally restraining said yarn and defining a yarn space of constant geometric shape and of variable crosssectional area, whereby said area can be controlled in accordance with the yarn thickness and size of said coil.

2. In a yarn winding machine for winding yarn from a supply coil to a take-up spool, a sleeve device for guiding and controlling the lateral movements of the yarn passing from said coil to said spool, said sleeve device comprising means forming mutually adjustable guide surfaces for laterally restraining said yarn and defining a yarn space of variable cross-sectional area, whereby said area can be controlled in accordance with the yarn thickness and size of said coil, said sleeve device comprising lateral walls forming said guide surfaces, said walls being pivotally mounted and having respective pivot axes arranged about a common central sleeve axis, and linking means connecting said Walls so as to cause said walls all to point away from their respective pivot axes in the same sense of rotation relative to said central axis.

3. In a yarn winding machine for winding yarn from a supply coil to a take-up spool, a sleeve device for guiding and controlling the lateral movements of the yarn passing from said coil to said spool, said sleeve device comprising means forming mutually adjustable guide surfaces for laterally restraining said yarn and defining a yarn space of variable cross-sectional area, whereby said area can be controlled in accordance with the yarn thickness and size of said coil, said sleeve device comprising lateral walls forming said guide surfaces, said Walls being pivotally mounted and having respective pivot axes arranged about a common central sleeve axis, at least one of said walls being provided with a bent-away portion at the end thereof remote from its respective pivot axis, said bent-away portion of said one wall forming a yarn threading opening with another wall adjacent thereto for threading the yarn into said yarn space.

4. In a yarn winding machine for winding yarn from a supply coil to a take-up spool, a sleeve device for guiding and controlling the lateral movements of the yarn passing from said coil to said spool, said sleeve device comprising means forming mutually adjustable guide surfaces for laterally restraining said yarn and defining a yarn space of variable cross-sectional area, whereby said area can be controlled in accordance with the yarn thickness and size of said coil, said guide surfaces comprising a plurality of pivotally mounted rake tines forming vanes arranged about a common central sleeve axis, the rake tines of each vane passing through the interspaces between the rake tines of an adjacent vane.

5. In a yarn winding machine for winding yarn from a supply coil to a take-up spool, a stationary yarn guide member normally located along the yarn path from said supply coil to said take-up spool, pull means axially spaced from said supply coil for pulling the yarn over the coil tip whereby the pulled-off portion of yarn rotates about the coil axis and tends to form a balloon, balloon limiting means comprising a sleeve device located between said coil tip and said guide member for guiding and controlling the lateral movements of the yarn passing from said coil to said spool, said sleeve device comprising a plurality of pivotally mounted vanes forming mutually adjustable guide surfaces for laterally restraining said yarn and defining a yarn space of constant geometric shape and of variable cross-sectional area, and transmission means operably interconnecting said vanes for simultaneous pivotal displacement of the latter.

6. In a yarn winding machine for winding yarn from a supply coil to a take-up spool, a sleeve device for guiding and controlling the lateral movements of the yarn passing from said coil to said spool, said sleeve device comprising a plurality of pivotally mounted vanes forming mutually adjustable guide surfaces for laterally restraining said yarn and defining a yarn space of variable cross-sectional area, and transmission means operably interconnecting said vanes for simultaneous pivotal displacement of the latter, said sleeve device including indicating means operably connected with at least one of said vanes for indicating the opening size of said yarn space.

7. In a yarn Winding machine for winding yarn from a supply coil to a take-up spool, a sleeve device for guiding and controlling the lateral movements of the yarn passing from said coil to said spool, said sleeve device comprising an even number of Walls symmetrically arranged about a common central sleeve axis and forming mutually adjustable guide surfaces for laterally restraining said yarn and defining a yarn space of variable cross section, respective adjacent ones of said walls being rigidly joined together along a mutual edge thereof to form a pair of sleeve sides, each pair being movably mounted and having motion limiting means for displacement of said pair along a straight line extending from said mutual edge to said common sleeve axis.

8. A sleeve device according to claim 1, said vanes comprising a plurality of pivotally mounted rake tines, the tines of each pair of vanes passing through the interspaces of the rake tines of an adjacent pair of vanes.

9. A sleeve device according to claim 7, said motion limiting means comprising bolt means axially fixed and rotatably mounted, said bolt means having thereon threaded portions of respectively equal pitch but in mutually opposed spiral sense, and means operably connecting said threaded portions with respective pairs of said walls for guiding said pairs for displacement along said straight line and symmetrically to said central sleeve axis.

10. In a yarn winding machine having a plurality of stations for winding yarn from a supply coil to a take-up spool, a stationary yarn guide member normally located' along the yarn path from said supply coil to said take-up spool, pull means axially spaced from said supply coil for pulling the yarn over the coil tip whereby the pulled-off portion of yarn rotates about the coil axis and tends to form a balloon, balloon limiting means comprising a sleeve device at each station located between said coil tip and said guide member for guiding and controlling the lateral movements of the yarn passing from the respective coils tothe respective spools, each sleeve device compris- 8 ing wall means forming mutually adjustable guide surfaces said linking means comprising a linking rod pivotally confor laterally restraining said yarn and defining a yarn nected to the respective Wall means. space of constant geometric shape and of variable cross- 7 a sectional area, displacing means for moving said wall References Cited in 'the'file of this patent means to control said yarn space in accordance with the thickness and size of said coils, and linking means inter- UNITED STATES PATENTS connecting the wall means of the sleeve devices at said 2,135,485 Abbott Nov. 8, 1938 respective stations, whereby the setting of one of said dis- 2,258,900 Little et al Oct. 14, 1941 placing means causes an adjustment of the yarn spaces of all of said sleeve devices. 10 FOREIGN PATENTS 11. In a yarn winding machine according to claim 10, 518,126 Italy Mar. 4, 1955 

